William Warren
In Biggles Sets a Trap, William Warren was the landlord of "The Spurs", the local inn at the village of Ringlesby in the New Forest. Biggles and Bertie had come to Ringlesby Hall to investigate a possible threat to the live of Sir Leofric Landaville. From their investigations, they were able to establish that Warren's original family name was de Warine. This was an ancient family which had originally been the owners of Ringlesby Hall but had been dispossessed and usurped by the Landavilles after the Battle of Bosworth Field when the victorious King Henry VII punished those like the de Waries who had sided with the Yorkists and rewarded his followers such as the Landavilles. Since that time, the de Warines, it appeared, had kept up a family feud, laying a curse on the Landavilles. Some time in the seventeeth century, the de Warines moved back into Ringlesby, changed their name to Warren and took over the local inn, changing the name from The Rose to The Spurs. Biggles surmised that this was a coded way of referring to the three rowels which were part of the coat-of-arms of the de Warine family. According to Julia Warren, William's sister, the Warrens had always been brought up to hate the Landavilles and for her brother, this became an obsession and the ruling passion of his life. As Biggles' investigation was to show, William took a more practical approach to operationalising the Landaville curse. He ambushed and killed Sir Leofric's brother Charles, accompanied with a raven croak (in accordance with tradition). He also took the trouble to wear a special blazer with the family coat-of-arms so that Charles would understand why he was being killed. This led to the dying Charles warning his brother to beware the "three hollow stars"--a clue which dawned on Biggles after seeing the de Warine arms at the local church and hearing the padre also refer to the three rowels on them as "stars". William then attempted to kill Diana Mortimore, sir Leo's fiancee. Julia surmised that this might be because he had hoped that Leo might then marry Julia instead, thus achieving the end of regaining possession of the property for the de Warine family. William's final act turned out to be his undoing. He broke into Ringlesby Hall hoping to steal the Charter granting the property to the Landavilles. This would, he assumed, allow the de Warines to use their older deed from William the Conqueror to regain control of the place. However, Biggles had anticipated this move. He had seen previous signs of tampering on the lock of the chest in which it was kept and so set a trap should the intruder come again. When William sprang the trap, Biggles hurried to the room but unfortunately knocked some armour onto the floor. The noise alarmed William who beat a hasty retreat out through the window after snapping a shot at Biggles. He left his hacksaw and pistol with his fingerprints behind. William then ran to his car and drove off but died when he collided with a fallen tree at high speed. As William left no descendant, the de Warine family line, and the feud, died with him. Category:People Category:Biggles characters Category:Air Police era characters